The kitchens are open, and the ovens are on. It’s time to cook.
“…Having the HCC culinary department downtown will be huge. It’s going to benefit all the building owners. It’s going to benefit everyone who is already doing business down here. It’s going to make it much more attractive for other businesses.” -State Rep Vega.
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Mega-cable company Comcast has signed a 10 year renewal contract with the City of Holyoke. For the first time in decades, the contract is favorable to the citizens of our city. The negotiations were led by Mayor Alex Morse and a group of members who have helped to advise him on matters pertaining to Public Access Programming. Notably, Al Williams from Northampton Community Television has been instrumental in steering the advisory committee in “all things Public Access”. The three arms of cable access programming are commonly referred to as “PEG”. Public, Education, Government. Holyoke has had television channels for education and government programming but until now, has never had the “Public” channel. Along with this dedicated channel, Comcast will fund the building of a state of the art media center that will be available to all residents of Holyoke – who have a desire to create content – and that can be watched on TV sets of any Comcast cable subscriber in the city. A percentage of the Gross Annual Revenue of all Holyoke Cable subscribers will be directed toward the operating budget of the access station. There are other important benefits that this new contract will bring; all of the details can be seen on the City of Holyoke’s website. In addition to the work and effort of the mayor and the advisory committee members, the citizens of Holyoke are to be thanked for their effort. There were two ascertainment hearings and others submitted statements regarding cable TV and public access for Holyoke. Thanks to advisory committee member Michael Hines and Holyoke Public Schools Channel 12 (The E in PEG) for the great footage of the announcement.
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We’ve decided to end SWITCH at Episode 16, “Insomnia” . On behalf of the contributing artists, and Creative Director Jessica Higgins… Thank you very much for watching, and to Access TV stations for airing our shows. Access TV is a wonderful medium for artists to work in. Stay tuned to HolyokeTV for future projects.
If you are interested in showing SWITCH on your Public Access station, please download the episodes from PegMedia. You can also watch all 16 episodes here.
Denis Luzuriaga
HolyokeTV is Intermedia Television. It is organized by a collective of artists who work in many disciplines
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All of the submitted videos can be viewed here. Joining a recent history of international one-minute video festivals in the past decade, REACH hosts a One-Minute VidFest. All are encouraged to submit a one-minute video (including credits and titles) to be screened at the Popcorn Noir movie theater in Easthampton, MA and at other venues during the exhibition. Applicants may be included in a one-minute video DVD—a selection of the collected works from the one-minute film festival. Submit your video by March 4, 2013. www.reachfest.com/1-minute-film-fest/
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On October 25, 2012 at 6pm, there will be a Public Ascertainment Hearing at the War Memorial in Holyoke, MA. The address is 310 Appleton St (and Maple).
The current cable television license held by Comcast with the City of Holyoke will expire on October 27, 2013. The purpose of this hearing is to identify future cable-related community needs and interests, and review the performance of Comcast under its current cable television license.
This is the people of Holyoke’s chance to get what they need, true Public Access Television. Television for, but especially by the people of Holyoke.
A person will be able to have an idea for a show, for example a monthly half-hour show that discusses the stories and historical treasures that can be found in Holyoke. She should be able to walk up to the Holyoke Public Access Station, get trained on how to produce said show from scratch, borrow the necessary equipment, and successfully see her show on one of the dedicated Public Access channels that is carried by Comcast and that is included in every cable subscription.
Please consider attending this important event and giving testimony as to why you feel the People of Holyoke deserve True Public Access Television.
Watch episode 13 “Video, Video” of SWITCH to get a primer on the beginnings of Public Access Television in New York City.
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Holyoke, MA (HOLYOKETV) January 13, 2012
SWITCH, a new art for public television project being syndicated throughout Massachusetts and other states, easily finds programming on channels serving over 70,000 households and generated over 22,000 impressions on its recent web announcement. The irony is, SWITCH is produced in Holyoke, a city with a newly elected visionary Mayor, Alex Morse, but without a dedicated public access television channel.
In a 7 minute documentary about the Holyoke TV Artists on SWITCH, produced by Artist Organized Art, (http://switch.artistorganizedart.org) the show’s producer, Denis Luzuriaga, tells us about having a hit public TV show that also tells the world about Holyoke:
“Holyoke doesn’t have a public access channel so it would be great if we could show SWITCH in Holyoke, where it was created. Holyoke is the most exciting city for collaboration in projects. Artists, business people and politicians all attend. Holyoke will house computers, powered by hydro-electricity, among the most powerful in the world. It’s also great for location shooting. We want artists from other parts of the world to come get involved in Holyoke. Local public access television is the way to start. ‘Think-globally-act-locally,’ very much applies to SWITCH.”
The City of Holyoke is home to a growing cultural community becoming a source of employment and income in the region. It is bound by a diverse area, encompassing college towns, former industrial cities, suburbs and rural communities. As a knowledge corridor, it is linked by the Connecticut River, and Interstates I90 & I91. Planned intercity rail service will increase ridership 231% by 2015, creating 1000’s of jobs.
Near Boston, Hartford, New York City and Bradley International Airport, Holyoke is a hub for a rich exchange of culture, innovation, and highly educated talent. Its creative economy produces and distributes cultural goods, services, and intellectual property. This provides access to a broad, diverse, cultural workforce via freelancers and small business.
Now, through a visionary mashup of the arts, high performance computing and high speed rail, as new Mayor Alex Morse promised at his inauguration, Holyoke is to be reborn as a digital city. Creative Director of SWITCH, Jessica Higgins imagines how intercity culture would relate to intermedia art on SWITCH and Holyoke’s missing public access channel:
“With SWITCH, putting artists in everyone’s living room can happen. Viewers need only to switch on the television and they’re in. I would love to see intermedia and Nam June Paik’s vision of having art in everyday life.. being able to turn on the television and see a short performance piece refresh people’s everyday life in a way that’s special and mysterious and experimental.”
New England’s first 90,300-square-foot Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) is under construction in The City of Holyoke. Massachusetts has designated Holyoke as a Growth District. SWITCH has released its 9th episode to thousands of public television viewers. Let’s hope for its homecoming broadcast on public access TV in the new digital city, Holyoke Massachusetts.
Press Contact: Susan Roth
website: http://switch.holyoketv.org
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“Holyoke doesn’t have a public access channel so it would be great if we could show SWITCH in Holyoke, where it was created.”
Susan Roth
holyoketv.org
(888) 255-0997
Email: press@holyoketv.org
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